Incoming Democratic legislative leaders said this week they are prepared to redraw Wisconsin’s congressional maps for a second time this decade, claiming President Donald Trump is somehow forcing their hand.
“I think we’re going to have to take a look at what we want to do with congressional redistricting because of what Donald Trump has done in other states in redrawing things,” Senate Majority Leader-designate Dianne Hesselbein told UPFRONT in an interview that will air Sunday. “I just think we have to keep it on the table and decide what we’re going to do.
“I think we have to fight fire with fire. And Democrats can’t bring a poetry book to this. We’ve really got to look at what we’re going to do to make sure voters have a real choice and that one party cannot lock in an advantage for a decade or more.”
“Donald Trump put us in a place of needing to respond to his efforts to permanently entrench his power and the Republican Party’s power,” incoming Assembly Speaker Greta Neubauer added. “We are very invested in making sure the will of the voters is heard. It was a historic wave year for Democrats, and that’s what it took to get us from a 6-2 to 4-4. So those congressional maps are gerrymandered. We’re going to be considering making some changes. I don’t know that it’ll be on the timeline of the first 100 days, but we do have maps that are still gerrymandered.”
The comments come days after Democrats won full control of state government for the first time in 16 years, electing David Crowley as governor and securing majorities in both the Assembly and Senate. Crowley has said he would sign a new congressional map if it reaches his desk.
Republicans dismissed the effort as a partisan power grab. Senate Minority Leader Julian Bradley called it a “naked power grab” that shows Democrats are focused on everything but the issues they campaigned on.
Wisconsin’s current congressional boundaries were drawn by Democrat Gov. Tony Evers after the Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected the map drawn by the then-Republican-controlled State Legislature.
State legislative maps were redrawn more recently. After liberals gained control of the Supreme Court in 2023, they struck down the previous districts and threatened to draw their own map. Fearing an even worse gerrymander than the one Evers had drawn, the Republican Legislature accepted Evers’ map, which has been in place since the 2024 congressional elections. They helped Democrats flip seats in 2024 and finally win back control of both chambers earlier this month.
Congressional maps are normally redrawn once a decade after the census. A mid-decade change in Wisconsin would be unusual and would likely face immediate legal challenges.
